Things That Change
by jenc0449
Summary: Things change when Mara goes to visit her cousin and uncle in Serbia for the summer.  A lot of things happen that she didn't expect.  She'll never be the same person after this again.


"Okay sweetie, remember the rules. Don't be out past curfew, no breaking the law, and _don't do anything you'll regret,_" she said the last part even more stern than the rest.

"I know, Mom. I've visited Anne and Uncle Steve before, and nothing bad has happened," Mara replied, not sarcastically, but in a normal tone.

"I know you have, but now you're sixteen, and you've never been away from home this long before. But, as much as I want to, I know you wouldn't enjoy going to America for the summer and staying in the apartment we've rented while your father and I are training."

"I'll be careful Mom, but I have to go, the plane is almost ready to take off," she anxiously pleaded.

"Alright, remember what I told you!"

"Don't worry Mom, I will."

She wrapped her in a bear hug, "I love you. Be careful."

"I will, and love you too," she replied before boarding the plane.

Mara was traveling to Belgrade, Serbia. Her cousin Anne who is five years older than her lives there with her dad, which to Mara, is Uncle Steve. The only reason Anne still lives at home is because she's going to a college pretty close, and it's cheaper for her to stay at home than rent some place for four years.

Mara was going there to stay with them while her parents were training. But, she hadn't visited in quite a while, so she didn't know that her Uncle was hardly ever home anymore, or the things that had happened to Anne because of her insane ex. She knew none of this when she arrived, but she would know it all when she left.

When I got off the plane, my legs felt like jelly. Even if it was a short flight, I still wasn't good with planes, which is another reason why I chose Serbia over America. Flying for twelve hours over nothing but _ocean _didn't sound very appealing.

"Mara!" my head snapped around, and I saw Anne. Her hair was now an onyx black, and in a bob. Like me, she was short, but extremely thin and frail-looking. Not only that, but her eyes weren't the beautiful green color they used to be, and it seemed like they had lost their spark.

"I haven't seen you in forever!" she cried to me.

"I know! I hardly recognized you!" she seemed to tense up as I said that, but continued smiling.

"Well, you know I hated being blond," she replied with a small smile.

"Yeah, but I loved your hair. And so did everyone else."

"Well, we should probably get going then,"she stated with what seemed like a mixture of nervousness, anxiousness, and dread.

The cab ride was pretty boring. Not at all how I'd imagined it'd be when I was on the plane. I'd expected the cab to be full of chatter, and we'd be catching up on the last five years we had both missed.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Here's a key to our apartment," Anne said as she handed me a shiny key.

I know that I'd need a key, but I'd kind of assumed that either Anne or Uncle Steve would be with me most of the time. Whatever, at least I would have a little more freedom.

"Thanks," I breathed out.

Shattering the silence, my phone vibrated and made the weird little alert sound that I set for my text tone. I pulled it out. _3 New Messages_ flashed on the screen. The first one of course was from my mom, and asked if I was alright and found Anne.

'_I'm fine mom. I'm riding home with Anne right now.' _I replied, texting somewhat quickly, a trait I had picked up from knowing Amber and how freaked out she got when you didn't immediately respond to one of her messages.

The second one was from Mick. _'hey mara. how r u?'_ popped up on my screen. Even though Mick had the newest model of an iPhone, he never turned autocorrect on. It does annoy me just a little. Especially when he sends messages like that to _me._ Not that I want him to write paragraphs asking about how I am though, it's just that I'm his girlfriend, and I wish he would spend more time on his messages with me.

I hesitated a moment, _'Okay. My flight to serbia just got in and ive got a bit of jetlag. How are u?'_

The last message was from..._Jerome? _

**A/N: Hey guys. Please don't hate me, but I'm giving up on my other Jara story. I might possibly have someone else take over it if they want...so PM me if you're interested, but anyway, no more updates on it. And House of Secrets, idk what I'm gonna do with that. I do plan on finishing it though. **

**Now, random stuff: I kinda want at least three or four reviews to continue this story. And I'll mostly likely change the rating from T to M. No lemons or anything, just some other bad stuff. So...this is loosely based on Crank by Ellen Hopkins. Awesome book btw. And the reason I chose Belgrade, Serbia, was because Serbia's pretty close to England, and according to google, Belgrade is one of the worst cities there. Nothing against Serbians though!**

**Peace**

**~jenc0449**


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